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Nenemama and Nenepapa
Nenemama and Nenepapa, also known as the "Parrot-Eaters", were the two main villains in one story in the German book Der Löwe ist Los ("The Lion is Loose"). As their names suggest, they have a child, a daughter called Nenekiki. They were two tribal natives living on an island who, having a traditional habit of eating parrots (hence their nickname), were planning to eat the cockatoo Ka, and later his friends. History When a cockatoo called Ka landed on the lighthouse island in a box, he was welcomed by the lighthouse warden, his nephew Kim and his niece Pips as well as their pets, a cat and a goat. Ka had belonged to a sailor who trimmed his wings. Afraid of his owner, Ka had climbed into the box and was carried away by sea. The warden told him how lucky he was as there is an island inhabited by savages who loved eating parrots. When Ka later tried to demonstrate to the cat how he was carried away, the box was actually carried away again. The two kids and their pets decided to follow him. Soon, Ka landed at the island he's been warned of. He's then kidnapped by two of the natives, Nenemama and Nenepapa, who planned to serve him to their daughter Nenekiki to cure her. Ka argued that he's a cockatoo, not a parrot, but the two didn't see a difference and looked for a recipe instead. When Ka heard that their daughter was sick, he claimed to be a doctor and offered them to help her if they promised to let him go. However, as Ka was no real doctor, his prescription made the girl's condition even worse. This angered the parents, who decided to cook Ka soon. Meanwhile, Kim, Pips and their pets had crossed paths with their friend, the titular lion as well as a seagull and arrived at the island. While the lion was ordered to guard the boat, the others were able to sneak to the parrot-eaters' hut. They soon had a plan to help Ka escape: the seagull was colored like a parrot and then switched with Ka. To the seagull's shock, the parrot-eaters put her in a cage and left to gather the last ingredients. While the others were heading towards the boat, Pips returned to the hut to cure Nenekiki. However, when the cockatoo and his friends arrived at the boat, they were met by Nenemama and Nenepapa, who were able to steal their sail as the lion fell asleep after accidentally taking sleeping pills which he thought to be against sleep. The two parrot-eaters ordered Kim and the pets to hand over Ka, otherwise, they would all be taken prisoners and the pets would be eaten while Kim would work as a slave. The lion was finally waking up when he heard of the parrot-eaters' plan to eat the kids, Ka and the other pets. Hearing that Pips was supposed to get eaten, he attacked Nenemama and Nenepapa. When he realized that Pips was gone, he planned to eat the two as he believed that Nenemama and Nenepapa ate the girl. They denied this, claiming not to remember eating Pips, but the lion believed that when someone couldn't remember doing something, he did it. However, just when the lion was about to eat Nenepapa, Pips returned with Nenekiki whom she had cured as well as the seagull. Overjoyed at their daughter being cured, Nenekiki's parents promised to never eat parrots again and instead of renaming their island into "parrot nurse island", now planning to cure all parrots and cockatoos that came to their island. Ka decided to stay as he could already feel his wings growing again. Personality Nenemama and Nenepapa were very concerned about their daughter's well-being, believing that eating a parrot could cure her as they were parrot-eaters anyway. On the other hand, however, they didn't care much about the fact that Nenekiki didn't want to eat Ka, later even deciding to just eat him themselves. The joy of seeing her cured at the end, although it was done through pills and not eating Ka, caused the parents to honor their daughter's request and quit eating parrots for good, showing that they did have a sense of honor. Towards Ka, they were rather careless about his arguments for being a cockatoo as they saw no difference. They treated him as nothing but talking food until they heard his lie of being a doctor, which made them accept his terms of being set free if he could cure their daughter. When this turned out to be a mistake as Ka made her feel worse, the two decided to eat Ka without giving him another chance. When their daughter argued that she wouldn't eat him, Nenemama told her that in that case, they would eat Ka themselves. When they changed the island's name, the former parrot-eaters were treating Ka much friendlier, even telling him and his friends to come to their island whenever they wanted. When they saw a strange boat at the beach, the two decided to take whoever was on it prisoner and have him work for them, implying that they didn't like strangers very much. This plan was about to be executed when they met with Kim, Ka, and the other two pets, and claimed that now they would eat the pets and have Kim chop their wood. This also implied that despite being parrot-eaters, the two didn't just eat parrots. It was implied that Nenemama and Nepapa were also cannibals when Ka caused the lion to wake up by telling him that the two were planning to eat Kim, Pips and the animals. Hearing that the girl was supposed to be eaten, the lion attacked them. When he realized that Pips was gone, he believed that Nenemama and Nenepapa ate her, implying that they would eat humans, too. The two declined, claiming not to remember eating her, but the lions claim if one could not remember it, he did it, believing them to have eaten the girl. Although this is proven to be wrong the next second, it is unknown what the two had planned for Pips as she wasn't there, leaving it unexplained whether they would've eaten the kids, but the lion's assumption and Ka's claim are still implying it. In other media TV appearance The two were shown in an adaption by a German puppet show for TV. The only difference between them and their book counterparts was that in this version, they had also previously kidnapped another character from the book, an African boy who they planned to marry to their daughter against his will, possibly because he was also having dark skin, as they did not make such a suggestion to Kim. They were also a bit less honorable in this version like when they promised Ka to let him go, Nenepapa told his wife that they would never keep their promise. They also did not leave the pets and Kim a choice about getting the sail back or not and just planned to capture them anyway. However, the movie didn't include Ka's line about them planning to eat the kids, making them cannibals only in the book. Radio Play They also appeared in a radio play adaption, which, indifference to the TV adaption, was less faithful to the book in terms of text, like giving them completely different lines than in the books and the TV episode or having them live in a tree house instead of a hut on the ground. The greatest major difference to the book and TV adaption was that the radio play had changed their skin color to "verdigris-green" instead of black, possibly due to previous criticisms of racism against the book and the TV adaption. Quotes Known Crimes *'Kidnapping' & Attempted Murder: The most significant thing they did was to kidnap the cockatoo Ka and roast him for their daughter as a sort of medicine, later planning to eat him themselves. They also later attempted to re-capture Ka long with his friends, planning to eat the other animals as well and keeping the boy Kim as a slave (although it's implied that they were going to eat him as well). As mentioned, the two also kidnapped another boy in the TV adaption to force him into marriage with their daughter. *'Attempted Cannibalism' (implied): It is implied that Nenemama and Nenepapa were cannibals who planned to eat the kids along with the animals. They themselves only mentioned that they would keep Kim as a slave, implying that they were not fond of strangers on their island, but Ka told the lion that they were going to eat the kids as well, and the lion then believed that Pips got already eaten, which implies that the parrot-eaters were also cannibals. *'Attempted Child Slavery': The two planned to keep the boy Kim as their slave (and possibly to eat him as well). It's also possible that they were planning to enslave (and eat) his sister, too. *'Attempted Forced Marriage': In the TV adaption, they kidnapped a boy to marry him to their daughter. Gallery Nenemama & Nenepapa.png|Nenemama & Nenepapa in the book Nenemama Nenepapa Ka.png|Nenepapa and Nenemama have captured Ka Nenemama.jpg|Nenemama… Nenepapa.jpg|… and Nenepapa Ka Nenemama Nenepapa.jpg|Nenemama and Nenepapa believe Ka that he's a doctor Nenemama Pot.jpg|Nenemama preparing a pot for Ka Nenemama Nenepapa Cooking.jpg|Nenepapa and Nenemama get ready to cook and eat Ka Nenepapa Knife.jpg|Nenepapa sharpens a knife to kill Ka Nenepapa Seagull.jpg|Nenepapa locking up the coloured seagull which he thinks to be Ka Nenemama Nenepapa Leaving.png|Nenemama and Nenepapa leave their hut to gather ingredients Nenepapa Watching.jpg|When Nenepapa sees a strange boat at the beach, he and Nenemama decide to destroy it and capture the owners Nenemama Nenepapa Boat.jpg|Nenepapa and Nenemama tell Ka, Kim, Schipp and Zie that they are going to eat them Nenemama Nenepapa Lion.jpg|Nenemama and Nenepapa are defeated when the lion strikes from behind Nenemama Nenepapa Nenekiki.jpg|Nenemama and Nenepapa are happy to see their daughter cured Nenemama Nenepapa Beach.png|Nenepapa, Nenekiki and Nenemama standing at the beach, waving good-bye to their new friends Trivia *As Nenemama and Nenepapa looked and acted like stereotypical cannibals, both the books (especially when it was printed in color), as well as the TV adaption was criticized by some people for being racist. **However, the people who published the colored version rewrote the racist lines by erasing most of the lines that referred to them being black and replaced the n word, which appeared very often in the book, with the word "parrot-eater". ***As mentioned above, the radio play went one step further in the attempt of erasing the racism by describing the parrot-eaters with green skin instead of black. *They share a similarity with Baba Yaga from Bartok the Magnificient: They originally wanted to eat a protagonist (in Baba Yaga's case, even the main protagonist), but eventually become his friends. Category:Redeemed Category:Cannibals Category:Kidnapper Category:Partners in Crime Category:Book Villains Category:TV Show Villains Category:Parents Category:Barbarian Category:Animal Cruelty Category:Spouses Category:Slaver Category:Female Category:Male Category:Provoker